October Puzzler

October 8th, 2012 by Adam Voiland

Every month, NASA Earth Observatory will offer up a puzzling satellite image here on Earth Matters. The fifth puzzler is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section below to tell us what part of the world we’re looking at, when the image was acquired, and what’s happening in the scene.

How to answer. Your answer can be a few words or several paragraphs. (Just try to keep it shorter than 300-400 words). You might simply tell us what part of the world an image shows. Or you can dig deeper and explain what satellite and instrument produced the image, what bands were used to create it, and what’s interesting about the geologic history of some obscure speck of color in the far corner of an image. If you think something is interesting or noteworthy about a scene, tell us about it.

The prize. We can’t offer prize money for being the first to respond or for digging up the most interesting kernels of information. But, we can promise you credit and glory (well, maybe just credit). Roughly one week after a “mystery image” appears on the blog, we will post an annotated and captioned version as our Image of the Day. In the credits, we’ll acknowledge the person who was first to correctly ID an image. We’ll also recognize people who offer the most interesting tidbits of information. Please include your preferred name or alias with your comment. If you work for an institution that you want us to recognize, please mention that as well.

Recent winners. If you’ve won the puzzler in the last few months, please sit on your hands for at least a few days to give others a chance to play.

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Looks like the Gobi desert, really. But this can be a Martian landscape. The interesting thing is that it has a small river that descends from south to north in the bottom left photo. It is water on Mars! The dark spot in the upper left of the photo, is hematite, if Gobi, or something like tar, if a photo Martian. A great adventure unravel these cracks soil. There caves? There will be water on Mars flowing underground in caves?

appears to be a dormant volcano (large, open crater) just below the photo’s center. Next to that ‘open crater’ appears to be another, much larger dead volcano….(crater at top.) Lot’s of erosion on the cliff sides almost everywhere.

My best ‘guess’ of locations would be somewhere in / near the Grand Canyon.

I wonder if it could be some area which was supposed to be covered with ice, but due to the global warming of the planet, the ice has disapeared. So I would say that the part of the world we’re looking at is some place near the polar icecaps; that the image has been acquired recently and that what is happening in the scene is this process of retreat of glaciers, permafrost and sea ice which let us perceive the signs of erosion that the ice has carved in the rocks.

I apologize in advance if this makes no sense at all. It is just an idea.

The Pyriness in Europe, near MIDI DE OSSAU, look carefully, you only should change the ligth and contrast, to our LIGTH SPEED velocity, mars and earth doesn’t has the same LIGTH speed velocity measure……

Looks like the UK’s shape is there but is not ‘there’ if you see what I mean. I think the picture shows the Granite in Northern Europes plate, there’s large deposits of it where I would expect them to be and they look flowing as if once molten.

This is the area around Uludoruk Peak in the southeastern Taurus Mountains of Turkey. The image must have been acquired in fall, showing just how unhealthy those galciers are, as they are almost completely bare ice with no acccumulation zone. Perhaps it was a very dry year, but those glaciers in that fairly arid region are going fast.

I think it could be a couple things. Either one, a melting glacier(judging from formation of the land and deep crevices) or, a mass of moisture above the surface of the earth from a water source below either in a canyon or mountaneous terrain?

Alev AKYILDIZ is right this is definatly Turkey with Uludoruk Tepe setting in the bottom right hand corner of the picture , the area is home to the Cilo-Sat mountain rangethat lies within the Hakkari Provence and is the most heavily glaciered area in Turkey. Izbìrak, is the largest of the ten glaciers , is in the upper left portion of the photo. The picture also reveals the impact of Global warming as it shows the glaciers continuing to melt. The Photo was also taken at about 200 feet and clearly shows the glaciers being smaller than previous pictures in 2006 and in 2009.

OK. Mid afternoon. Mid northern latitudes, closer to the equator. Obviously dry mountainous terrain. Glaciers but they look dull and limited with no sign of significant channels from summer runoff. Northern half of image seems to show a highly eroded plateau with yellowish eroded material. I don’t know enough to be sure but I’d go with the suggestion that it is the Gobi Desert.

Due to sunset in that region dark patches are there, there is no lake or water, shadows are east southwards, so this mountainous region must be in south hemisphere, most possible place in Andes near Atacama desert, bordering counties like Chili and Peru

There is green vegetation only around the edges of the “glacier” or “ice/snow”. High elevation, generally very arid except for moisture from ice melt. Very rugged terrain, upturned heavily eroded sedimentary rock. Probably taken in the summer. Reminds me of rugged Afghanistan terrain or Himalayas, area where there is a lot of earth movement, maybe between the continental plates.